Connected By Feelings
by Darkchild2010
Summary: Troy likes Gabriella, Gabriella likes Chad, Taylor and Sharpay hate each other and Taylor is cheating on Chad. But that's not the end of their problems. Friendships are broken, relationships are destroyed, and there is NO GOING BACK. Chella! Zekepay
1. Chapter 1 Buried Secrets

A/N: Ok before you read I'm just going to warn you, this story contains mention of sex, alcohol, abuse, and lots of swearing. If this squicks you, press the back button. Also, all dream sequences and thoughts will be expressed by _italics_. I believe that's all...enjoy!

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Connected By Feelings

Chapter 1

Buried Secrets

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_Chad Danforth stood in his Spanish tiled kitchen looking down at his daughter, who was trying to sneak a cookie out of the jar on the kitchen counter, before her mother came back. "Since you're doing that princess, get daddy one as well." He said with a chuckle. The little girl jumped and looked at her father with a mischievous smile._

"_Ok." She said as she opened the jar and took two big chocolate chip cookies out._

_It was at that moment that his wife walked into the room with their baby daughter in her hands and their son playing with a PSP. "Danielle, what are you doing?" His wife asked, her long black hair was in curls and she had a small smile on her face._

"_Oooh! Mommy, she has cookies!" Their 7 year old son exclaimed, looking up from his PSP._

_Chad put his arms around his wife's waist and kissed her neck. "I told her to get me some." He lied, giving his daughter a wink._

"_Honey!" She said in mock anger. Chad laughed and kissed her cheek._

"_You know you love me Gabs."_

_Gabriella laughed and handed her husband their baby. She moved over to the stove and gave her family an amused look. "Go take a cookie and go play."_

_The kids let out a loud cheer, grabbed a cookie and ran out the kitchen. Chad went over to Gabriella and kissed her on the lips. "I love you."_

_Gabriella turned and smiled one of her breathtaking smiles. "I love you too." _

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Chad woke up with a smile on his face. He didn't realize how wrong his dream was until after his shower and he was slipping on his shirt. "Holy fuck!" He had a dream about Gabriella. Troy's girlfriend. His best friend's girlfriend. What the hell!

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Troy Bolton laughed at something that Jason had been saying. His attention however shifted when he saw Gabriella walking down the hall with Taylor by her side. Troy and Gabriella weren't really dating yet, they had gone to a few movies but Troy has yet to even make it official. The only time they had kissed was when the group had played Spin The Bottle, but it was one of the best kisses that Troy had ever had.

"Hey boys." Taylor said with a huge flirtatious smile.

"Hi." Gabriella said with a wide smile that made her dimples show.

"Hey Gabby, Taylor." Troy replied as he let his eyes go over what Gabriella was wearing.

"What's up?" Chad greeted as he walked over to the group and put an arm around Gabriella and Taylor.

Taylor giggled as she wrapped an arm around Chad's waist. "Hi sexy."

Troy noticed that Gabriella rolled her eyes and moved away from the two.

"I'm going inside, I just remembered that I have to ask Sharpay something." Gabriella said as she walked inside the classroom, leaving Troy and Chad looking after her.

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Gabriella Montez strolled into her home room class and pulled Sharpay by the arm, indicating that they needed to speak. Sharpay said something to Ryan and walked with Gabriella to the back of the classroom.

"What's up 'Ella?" Sharpay asked in concern.

Gabriella sighed and pushed a hand under her hair. "Taylor is such a slime ball. I mean she's such a...a..."

"Slut." Sharpay finished.

"Exactly! I mean...what could Chad possibly see in her?" Gabriella asked, feeling very annoyed at the whole situation.

"I have no clue. She hides under her math geek image - no offense - and she's really like a playboy playmate. I heard a lot of shit about her."

"Really? How about we have a sleep over at your house and you can tell me all about it." Gabriella suggested. She looked up and saw Taylor pull Chad into a kiss, and Troy, Jason, and Zeke walked away from the lip locking couple and headed into the classroom.

"Ok. Friday at my house. Bring a scary movie." Sharpay said. The two girls nodded their heads in agreement and walked to their seats just as Ms. Darbus walked into the classroom.

Gabriella watched Chad and Taylor take their seats and her heart felt like it was cracking. She really didn't understand why Chad wasn't with her.

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Sharpay Evans let her eyes zone out as she watched Zeke mix something in Home Economics. He had a very graceful appeal to him as he cooked, and she admired him immensely because she couldn't cook to save her life. She was a performer, not a baker. She walked over to her boyfriend and gave him a dazzling smile. "Hey. You are coming over tonight right?"

Zeke smiled back at her as he poured the batter in the pan and put it in the oven. "Of course. You know I can't stay away from my talented hunny." He said pulling her close and giving her a kiss.

Ever since Sharpay and Zeke got together, she got rid of her Ice Queen exterior. Well...she did around her friends. Strangers, and anyone that annoyed her got her Ice Queen facade.

"Can I ask you a question? " Sharpay asked 13 minutes later while she attempted to add the last ingredient into her batter.

"Shoot." Zeke said as he jumped up on the counter near the stove he was using.

"Why is Chad with Taylor?"

Zeke's eyebrows rose and he tilted his head slightly as he looked at his blonde girlfriend. "I guess he likes her, I don't know. They seem like a good enough couple, too bad Troy hasn't told Gabriella how he feels."

Sharpay gave a sour look at that last sentence. For all she knew, Troy could keep his claws away from Gabriella. "I don't think that would be a good idea. They are better as friends."

"What? But...they obviously like each other."

"Just because Troy happens to share the same passion for singing as 'Ella, doesn't mean that they'll get married with 5 kids and live in a 3 story house with 2 dogs." Sharpay's eyes were narrowed and she was beating her batter viciously.

Zeke couldn't comprehend why Sharpay was acting so angry, so he put a hand on hers to stop her abuse of the innocent cake batter. "Babe, what's wrong?"

Sharpay sighed and looked into Zeke's warm brown eyes. "Well...'Ella doesn't see Troy as boyfriend material..."

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Taylor McKessie smiled warmly at Chad as he carried her books for her to the lunch table that day. All her friends were already in the conversations and she quickly incorporated herself into the debate about America's Next Top Model, that Gabriella, Ryan, and Sharpay were engaging. As the conversation continued, Taylor found herself staring off into space, looking at Chad from the corner of her eyes.

Chad really was the "perfect" boyfriend. He made her feel catered to and loved. They didn't get around to feeling so deeply for each other, but it would be there id they stayed together. Which brought her to her next issue. She wasn't sure if she could keep her cheating on him a secret. She wasn't dumb enough to think that he wouldn't find out. She had cheated on him with a lot of players that were on Varsity teams. She had slept with most of them, and did sexual favors to the others.

Taylor knew that what she was doing was very wrong, but it felt nice to be desired. Guys wanted her, they didn't see her as just a smart weirdo, they saw her as a gorgeous person that was worth their time. She had Chad to thank for her sudden image change.

_You have a funny way of showing your thanks._

She ignored her conscience. It was as if her old self was always trying to make her feel guilty. _I deserve to feel good about myself. I deserve to have male attention. _

_You don't deserve Chad! _

Taylor was very angry with this thought. _I hate you._

_Good to hate yourself. You should. All you do is parade yourself around school acting like a slut. _

Before Taylor got caught up in an internal debate, Gabriella poked her in the side. "Hmm?" Taylor asked, wondering what she had missed.

"I asked you if you gave in the History essay." Gabriella said.

"Oh! Yeah, I'm not sure if it was too long though." She answered.

Sharpay gave her a raised eyebrow and rolled her eyes. Taylor was not surprised in the least. Sharpay and her never got along. They shared friends and that was that. Taylor couldn't stand the blonde, she was getting way too close to Gabriella and she didn't like it at all. Gabriella was her first real best friend and she would be damned if she let the Ice Bitch take her away. So with practiced ease she flipped Sharpay off and felt only a little bit guilty at the conflicted look on Gabriella's face as she looked back and forth between her two friends.

"Please don't start you two." Gabriella pleaded.

"What did I miss?" Troy asked sitting across from Gabriella with his lunch tray.

"Just the usual, Sharpay being a regular Ice Bitch." Taylor said snidely before she could stop herself.

"That's priceless coming from the school slut!" Sharpay fired back, her eyes turning hard in anger.

Taylor saw Chad look over at her with shock and she tightened her hold on the edge of the lunch table until her knuckles began hurting. "Coming from the Prude Ice Princess, I'll take that as a compliment."

"That's all it takes to get in you pants! A few well placed compliments and you obediently go on your back!" Sharpay yelled, standing up and glaring down at Taylor.

Taylor shot up as well, hands on her hips in anger. "Jealous because guys like me better than you?" A smirk was on her face triumphantly.

"Guys like anything easy. At least they respect me."

Gabriella finally had enough and she stood up and pout out both hands to keep the two of them from going at each other. "Please stop!"

Ignoring Gabriella Taylor kept her icy glare on Sharpay. "Was that before or after you drunk yourself into depression when your father molested you!"

A sharp smack wiped the smirk off her face. She rose a hand to her cheek and saw Gabriella looking at her with disgust. Ryan looked ready to leap across the table and kick Taylor's ass, but Zeke was holding him back, and Sharpay had turned a few shades paler, and she was slightly trembling. But that mattered nothing to Taylor, except the way Gabriella was glaring at her. Without another word Gabriella grabbed her book bag and ran from the Cafeteria.

The Cafeteria was silent as all the students were looking at their table. Taylor turned her attention to Chad and he was looking at her with almost the same look that Gabriella had.

"Mind your fucking business!" Sharpay screamed at the ogling students. She picked up her juice from her tray and threw it at Taylor.

Taylor gasped in shock as the cold grape juice sprayed the front of her body, staining her pink shirt and matching mini.

Without saying anything else Sharpay pulled her shoulder bag from off the table and stalked from the room. Zeke and Ryan followed her quickly. Chad's eyes hardened when she turned to look at him.

"Taylor...we need to talk."

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A/N: Ok so what did you guys think? I've been writing this story in my subject notebook for about a week, and I just needed to get it on this site. I hope you guys like it...there is more that I have already written so it will get updated. My other HSM story will get updated as well, but one of my friends had totally deleted the chapter, so I have to write it over. Leave a review, and see you in the next chapter, bye!


	2. Chapter 2 Breaking Habits

Connected By Feelings

Chapter 2

Breaking Habits

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Gabriella sat on the floor near her locker. Her legs were drawn up to her chest and she had tears of frustration in her eyes. All the times that she had stuck up for Taylor came rushing to her mind. She couldn't believe her, she couldn't understand why she felt the need to say something like that in the middle of the cafeteria, with everyone looking at them like they were on TV putting on some dramatic soap opera.

Sharpay had always said that Taylor had changed, she said Taylor wasn't trustworthy. But Gabriella had defended her and said that Taylor was just under stress because she was starting to struggle in their AP History class. But she was wrong, not only did Taylor hurt Sharpay greatly, she had hurt Gabriella as well. Her betrayal cut like a knife.

Gabriella put her head on her knees and cried into her pants legs. She was seriously thinking on skipping the rest of her classes and leaving, but she couldn't. It would mar her perfect record and her mom wouldn't be pleased. She leaned her head against her locker and closed her eyes. She was tired...maybe she could fake sickness and hide out in the Nurse's office for the rest of the day. She didn't know if she could deal with seeing Taylor...she wasn't even sure if she wanted to see any of her friends.

"Gabs, are you ok?" Came Chad's soft voice from her left. She hadn't even heard him sit down next to her.

"Better than Sharpay, probably." Gabriella answered.

"I'm sorry about Taylor."

"Not your fault. She's a vile creature that purposely hurt someone. She's been hurting people for months. I tried so hard to believe that she hadn't changed. I tried so hard to get Sharpay to soften up to her. I tried so hard...so hard." Gabriella began crying again, the tears flowed from her eyes and she felt as if the lump in her throat would never go down.

Chad pulled her close to his body, his arms wrapping around her as he tucked her head under his chin. "Don't worry Gabs. I'm here for you." He whispered softly.

It was then that Gabriella began to sob and she tried to stifle her noises by burying her head deeper into Chad's shirt. Every emotion that had been raging through her head recently came to the surface and she let it all out. When she finally calmed down she burrowed deeper into his arms. "Thanks for not...you know...pulling away because my tears were soaking through your shirt.

Chad smirked at her. "No sweat. If it will make you feel any better, I broke up with Taylor. Her character change was just too much for me."

For the first time since lunch period had started, Gabriella cracked a genuine smile. Her and Chad stayed like that till the bell rang.

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Troy wasn't sure how he should feel. After he left the Cafeteria, he had stumbled across Ryan and Zeke trying in vain to get into the Student's Lounge, which Sharpay had locked herself into. After talking with them, and telling them how Chad had dumped Taylor, he then began his search for Gabriella. It took him a few minutes but he had found her, and it was how he found her that left his emotions out of whack.

Gabriella was cuddled up to Chad in the hallway in front of her locker. It was clear to Troy that she had been crying and he should feel a little thankful that his best friend was there for her. But at the moment, all he felt was jealousy. **He** should have been the one to find her first. **He** should have been the one she cried to. **He** should have been the one to hold her, but instead he was watching from the sidelines. He wasn't used to this, and he realized quite quickly that he didn't like it.

The bell rang and for once Troy was happy to hear it. He watched the two get up and exchange a few words. Once they split, Troy stopped by his locker, grabbed his homework and went to Biology.

"What's up man? Some lunch period." Chad said sitting down next to him. The two had always been lab partners.

"The whole lunch room was looking at us." Troy said as he looked up at the blackboard to see what they would be doing.

"All because of Taylor and her big mouth. I should have dumped her a long time ago."

Troy nodded his head in agreement as he looked over at his poofy haired friend. "I'm going to ask Gabby out today." He paid close attention to what Chad's reaction would be to the news. There was a slight flicker of something in his eyes, but other than that there were no outward reactions against the news.

"Finally man!" Chad said with a smile.

Troy felt relief wash over him and he smiled back. It was confirmed, Chad did not have a thing for Gabriella. His mind could be at ease now.

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Sharpay was curled up on her bed an hour after the lunchroom disaster. Her pillow was soaked on both sides and she tossed it off the bed and buried her head in another one. After locking herself in the Student's Lounge, she realized that she wasn't going to be able to stay there all day. So she walked out, told Ryan and Zeke that she was going home so she could be alone and walked away.

She was actually glad that they didn't argue and fight with her, and she knew both of them was scared of leaving her alone while she was like this.

Memories from when she was 12 rushed to the surface of her mind. Memories that she had successfully blocked out for years. She had suffered her father's abuse for a year until he got into a car accident and was ejected from the car, smashing his face to the ground and crushing most of his body.

Sharpay didn't know how to feel after his death. Ryan and her mom cried but she couldn't shed any tears. It was a few weeks after the funeral, when Ryan had screamed at her and called her a "heartless bitch that didn't give a damn" that their father was dead. And then she had broke down and told Ryan everything. She swore him to secrecy so he wouldn't tell their mother.

But Sharpay was dying inside, it had hurt so much and she was so confused and one day she took one of her mother's Vodka bottles, and drunk herself to unconsciousness. She had found that being drunk numbed the pain and made her forget her pain, so she kept drinking and drinking until finally Ryan had stopped her. He had found her drunk on the floor of her room and he had freaked out. He helped her stop. He helped her get better.

With a sigh she sat up in bed and stood. She walked over to her shelf and moved a few books out of the way and found a half bottle of Vodka. She took it back to her bed and stared at it for a long time.

_Are you really going to let that bimbo succeed in hurting you?_

Sharpay groaned and tightened her grip on the bottle.

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_You've really done it this time!_

_Shut up!_

_Ha! That's what you should have done._

_I said shut the hell up! _Taylor punched her pillow in frustration.

_Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! No wonder your life sucks, you're way too violent._

Taylor punched the pillow again and ignored her argument with herself. In the span of one lunch period her life had done a complete 180, she made a scene, Chad broke up with her, she was humiliated cause her clothes were purple and sticky, and worse of all her best friend slapped her and looked at her as if she was the worse person to ever breathe in air.

With a frustrated noise she leaped off the bed and began pacing back and forth in the middle of her room. She had thought that having wild sex in the Boys' Locker Room with the Captain of the floor hockey team would release some stress, but it didn't.

_I need to talk to Brie. _With that thought she picked up her phone and dialed Gabriella's house.

"_Hello?"_

"Hi Mrs. Montez, is Gabriella home?"

"_You just missed her, she went to Sharpay's house."_

"Oh thanks...Bye."

Taylor hung up the phone with narrowed eyes. Without missing a beat she dialed Gabriella's cell phone.

"_Hi you've reached Gabriella. Sorry I missed your call, but leave a message and I'll get back to you. Ciao!" _

BEEP!

"Hey Brie, it's me, Taylor. Look I'm sorry about what happened today okay? Please don't stay mad at me, you're my best friend and I need you. Call me back when you can. Bye."

Taylor sighed as she closed the phone and sat on her bed , exhausted. Now all she had to do was wait, and hopefully Gabriella would call back. But after 15 minutes she realized that she couldn't just sit there. She had to make amends, so she grabbed her cell, threw it in her handbag and left.

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"Put it down!" Gabriella ordered as she entered Sharpay's bedroom.

Sharpay looked up, startled, and dropped the bottle of Vodka. "It's ok 'Pay. I'm here. Zeke is downstairs with Ryan. So whenever you want to talk to them, they're there."

Sharpay fought back tears and nodded her head. "You guys are great. I just hoped that I wouldn't have to bother you guys with my issues."

Gabriella pulled back and gave her friend a smile as she wiped away stray tears from the blonde's face. "That's what friends are for. You're supposed to come to us. Now I brought over some movies and we're going to watch them in here with a big bowl of popcorn. Ok?"

Sharpay smiled and nodded her head once more. "Okay." Gabriella went downstairs to tell Zeke and Ryan to come up with the popcorn and the DVD's, but Sharpay's voice stopped her. "Hey 'Ella..."

Gabriella turned to look at her blonde friend. "Yeah?"

"Thanks."

Gabriella smiled and got the guys upstairs. As they began setting up, Gabriella pulled her cell phone from her pocket. "Let's invite Chad."

"And Troy." Zeke reminded her.

Gabriella nodded her head. "Of course." She jumped in surprise as the phone rang in her hand.

Her friends laughed and Zeke shoved some popcorn in his mouth. "Who is it?"

Gabriella's smile dropped as she glared at her phone. "Taylor."

Sharpay looked over at her, a blank expression on her face. "You gonna pick up?"

"No." Gabriella responded as she selected "Ignore Call". "Our friendship is dead."

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A/N: Sorry for the long wait for this chapter, but I was totally busy. Next chapter will be up soon though, see ya in the next chapter, bye!


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